Lamb of God revisit hardcore roots, revive Burn the Priest for new album of covers

Mark Morton admits that the members of Lamb of God do not often reach a consensus so quickly and smoothly.

But the guitarist and founding member of the veteran Virginia-based metal band says determining the song list on its most recent album was relatively strife-free for the five members. First, a clarification: Legion: XX isn’t officially a Lamb of God album at all, although it’s produced by the same personnel. It’s been released under the much more sinister-sounding moniker Burn the Priest, which was the name Morton first co-founded the band under back in the early 1990s. The album recognizes those early years by paying tribute to the bands that inspired them at the time. Given that Lamb of God has had a knack for straddling genres and finding common ground between hardcore punk and metal, one might think developing a cohesive list of covers that represents all five band members’ far-flung tastes would prove difficult.

But Morton says the bands covered on Legion: XX — which include everyone from grunge punkers Melvins, to hardcore pioneers Cro-Mags and Bad Brains, to industrial-metal giants Ministry, to relatively obscure acts such as Sliang Laos — was settled upon without much drama.

“All five of us pitched in a list of what we wanted to do,” Morton says. “There was a fair amount of overlap in those lists but then there were some standouts in everybody’s list as well. So we tried to incorporate a little bit of everyone’s influences into something we could all feel good about. It went pretty smooth. Especially by our standards, we usually argue about everything and, with this one, there wasn’t any real snags.”

Morton says the band has been discussing cover songs for years. But a rare hiatus in touring meant they finally had time to commit to the project. On top of that, the 20th anniversary of Burn the Priest’s 1999 self-titled debut is approaching. As Burn the Priest, the band only released one record. By 2000, the act had rechristened itself Lamb of God, in part to distance itself from any association with Satanic heavy metal.

Since then, they have become one of the most successful bands in metal, big enough to support Slayer on the latter’s farewell tour that swings into Calgary’s Big Four Building on May 19.

But Lamb of God has never lost its hardcore roots. Singer Randy Blythe, for instance, hosts a show on the streaming station Gimme Radio that often highlights the common ground between modern metal giants and punk pioneers such as Misfits and D.R.I.

Morton says he was happy to introduce acts such as Sliang Laos, whose reputation is mostly limited to its hometown of Richmond, to new ears.

“I’m 45 years old,” Morton says. “We have fans who are in their 50s and fans that are 15. It’s pretty widespread age-wise, so maybe a fair number of our fans will be familiar with this stuff but probably some of them won’t, so if we can turn someone onto something they don’t know about, then that’s great.”

Covering the songs took Morton back to his own salad days in Richmond. This was before the Internet was widespread, which meant individual scenes within cities often formed and evolved is relative isolation from each other. Which meant, Morton reckons, there was much more excitement at the prospect of discovering something new. For one, it was a lot harder work than it is now.

“If you went to Richmond, the bands sounded different than if you went to Philly, or Atlanta or Chicago or Minneapolis,” Morton says. “There were actual real scenes because these things happened organically and everyone wasn’t exposed to everything all at the same time. There’s a beauty in that. There’s a lot of character and a lot of personality in those local scenes.”

Lamb of God, however, eventually broke out of Richmond’s regional scene and reached international prominence. The five-piece band has sold millions of records, been nominated for five Grammys and has generally been regarded as influential leaders in American metal. The journey has not been without its drama. Journalists are told not to ask questions about Blythe’s 2012 arrest in the Czech Republic, when he was charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of a teenage fan two years earlier. Blythe was accused of pushing the 19-year-old offstage, causing injuries that eventually led to his death. He was acquitted in 2013 and chronicled his experiences on songs found on 2015’s VII: Sturm und Drang.

As for the future of Lamb of God, Morton says they have no intention of following Slayer into the sunset. After they finish the tour, they will start thinking about recording their eighth studio record.

“There is the raw material of that stuff floating around,” says Morton. “(Guitarist Willie Adler) and I both have a lot of riffs and even a couple of song ideas demoed out. That’s the beginning of the process, where Willie and I will come up with the ideas for the music and then we’ll get legs up underneath of it as a band, and start sifting through it and refining it and turning it into new Lamb of God album. Hopefully, that’s what we’ll be doing last year.”

Lamb of God will open for Slayer on Saturday, May 19 at the Big Four. Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament are also scheduled to perform. The show is sold out.

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